Handle for throwing bowling-balls.



J. W. HYATT.

HANDLE FOR THROWING BOWLING BALLS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 27, 1912.

1,068,389a Patented July 22, 1913.

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J. W. HYATT. HANDLE FOR THROWING BOWLING BALLS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 27, 1912.

- Patented July 22, 1913.

a HEETSSHEET 2.

J. W. HYATT. HANDLE FOR THROWING BOWLING BALLS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 27, 1912.

Patented July 22, 1913.

3 SHEBTSSHEET 3.

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JOHN W. HYAT'I', OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE BRUNSWIGK-BALKE-COLLENDER COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

HANDLE FOB THROWING BOWLING-BALLS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 22, 1913.

Application filed September 27, 1912. Serial No. 722,683.

To all whom 2'25 may concern:

Be it known that I, J 01 m 7. HYATT, a citizen of the United States,residing at 724 Ridge street, Newark, county of Essex, and State of NewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Handles forThrowing Bowling-Balls, fully described and represented in the followingspecification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

The present invention relates to a handle for throwing bowling balls andanalogous objects, and the purpose of the invention is to permit theoperator to throw the handle with the object and to automaticallydisengage the handle from the object by such act of throwing. Thissecures the detachment of the handle from theobject without anyvoluntary or conscious effort on the part of the operator, which wouldbe likely to confuse him when discharging the ball.

The invention therefore provides means, as one or more jaws upon thehandle, to grasp the object, a bolt for locking such means upon theobject in their grasping position, and a connection as a flexible cordbetween the bolt and the wrist of the operator, which automaticallypulls the bolt and releases the jaws from the object when the handle isdischarged from the hand with the object.

The means of grasping the object may be varied and the means for lockingthe handle upon the object, provided the automatic detachment of thehandle from the object is effected by the act of throwing.

Two species of handles illustrating the invention are shown in theannexed drawing, one being shown in Figures 1 to 7 and the other inFigs. 8 to 11. Fig. 1 is an elevation of the hand and a two-jawed handlein the act of releasing the ball; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of thehandle with two jaws; Fig. 3 shows the inner side of one slide carryingone of the jaws, with dotted lines representing parts of the other jawthe inner side of which is shown in Fig. 5; Fig. 4 is a plan of thehandle; Fig. 5 shows the inside of the slide which is represented indotted lines in Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is an end view of the handle; Fig. 7 asection on line 77 in Fig. 1; Fig. 8 is a side view of a handle having aplug and a movable jaw to engage a metal socket upon the ball; Fig. 9 isa section on line 99 in Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 shows the bottom end of the plug and the adjacent flange; Fig.11 shows the inner side of the socket with the plug and the jaw engagingthe socket.

a and a are jaws connected respectively to slides b and b, the slidesbeing shown with flat adjacent surfaces and straight ball-races thereon.

A rib 0 is formed lengthwise of the slide 6 and has ball-grooves 0 inits opposite sides, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7 and the slide 5 is formedwith a channel cZ having ball-grooves d in its opposite sides and soproportioned that balls 6 just fit between the grooves 0 and d.

Nothing exists to hold the slides b and b movably together, as will beobvious from inspection of Fig. 6, until the balls are inserted in thegrooves, and the engagement of the balls with the grooves (Z then holdsthe parts movably together but prevents their disengagement.

Pins 7, f are screwed through the outer walls of the slide 5 into theball-channels as shown in Fig. 4:, and springs c are inserted in thechannels between the pins f and the partitions to press the ballsnormally toward the pins '7. WVhen the jaws a, a are separated, theballs tend to roll toward the pins 1" and to compress the springs, andto roll in the opposite direction toward the pins 7 when the jaws areretracted.

The springs operate to keep the balls in the most favorable position forseparating the jaws to their fullest extent. The balls thus permit thejaws to be moved toward one another, when entered in the holes 9 in abowling ball it, so as to grip the ball when the slides are lockedtogether. This is effected by a rack h located in a recess 2' in one ofthe slides, and a spring-l'mlt ;,5 formed as a sloping ratchet-toothattached to a plate 70 which is movable transversely in the slide 6 andprovided with a spring m to press the bolt normally toward the rack. Thejaws are thus automatically locked when they are pressed together andentirely released so as to separate freely when the bolt is Withdrawn.This is effected as shown in Fig. 1, by a cord Z attached to the boltand looped around the wrist n of the operator.

The length of the cord is so proportioned that the operator may freelygrasp the handle, fit it into the holes of the ball and push the jawstogether to lock them auto mat-ically upon the ball, and also permit thehandle a few inches of movement with the ball when the ball isdischarged, which movement tightens the cord Z, retracts the bolt andfrees the handle from the ball. The handle then remains attached to theWrist of the operator in readiness to engage with another ball.

The engagement of the jaws with the holes of the ball and the locking ofthe jaws therein can be effected in a moment, and the operator indischarging the ball is not required to perform any act except to throwthe handle with the ball, thus avoiding any manipulation of a latch orbolt at the moment of his taking aim with the ball, and enabling theoperator to concentrate his mind entirely upon such aim.

The essential feature of the invention is the automatic detachment ofthe handle from the ball when the handle and ball are discharged by theoperator, and another form of the invention is therefore illustrated inFigs. 8 to 11, where the handle is a cross-head 0 having a hollow shankp with a plug 9 at its lower end and a hook or jaw r movable from oneside of the plug to engage a lip .9 within a sockett in the ball. Suchsocket is shown in Fig. 9 as a screwplug and the jaw or hook r is formedupon a lever a pivoted movably in the shank and actuated by alocking-bolt a), to. which a cord to may be attached for connection tothe op erators wrist; The lever u is formed near its opposite ends withinclines a projected toward the bolt, and the bolt has opposite inclinesc which operate, in opposite movements of the bolt, to lock the hook rin its operative position or to positively disengage the same from thelip s. A flange 0: is shown upon the base of the plug 9 to arrest theplug when inserted in the socket sufficiently for the hook 1" to engagethe lip, and ears w are projected from the side of the shank upon whichthe hook 9" is located, to hold the plug from rocking in the socket andthus straining the hook unnecessarily. In this device the plug isinserted in the socket and the bolt pushed downwardly, thus locking thehook in the socket as shown in Fig. 9, and the discharge of the handleand ball jerks the bolt outwardly, thus bringing the outer inclineagainst the outer end of the lever to and instantly retracting the hookfrom the lip. Both constructions thus operate the same, and they adaptthe invention for application to objects of different characters wherethe two jaws or the straight shank may be preferable; but the two jawsare the most suitable for manipulating bowling balls because the middleportion of the handle is wholly unobstructed for applying the hand.

It will be understood from the above description that the bolt is notwithdrawn until the handle has left the hand of the operator, and thebolt and jaw therefore have no load upon them and are retracted with aminimum of resistance.

A construction in which the handle is discharged by the operator withthe ball thus possesses great advantages over any in which the handle isretained in the hand and the ball is discharged from the handle bymoving the bolt, while the aw is sustaining the weight of the ball, assuch weight necessarily causes a greater resistance to the retraction ofthe jaw and of the bolt which locks it. My construction differs fromothers in having a movable locking mechanism which engages the ball withthe handle independent of any muscular effort on the part of the bowler.In my construction no effort is required on the part of the bowler tomaintain the handle in engagement with the ball while throwing the same,as the engagement is efiected mechanically, and the movable mechanismupon the handle, which engages the ball, is connected with the handindependently of the handle, as by the cord Z, so that the lockingmechanism automatically releases the handle when the handle and ball aredischarged by the operator.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention what is claimed hereinis:

1. In a bowling ball handle, the combination, with the handle, ofmovable mechanism upon the handle for locking the handle to the ball,and a cord connecting such movable mechanism with the hand of thebowler, independently of the handle, for automatically unlocking thehandle from the ball when the handle is discharged with the ball.

2. In a bowling ball handle, the combination, with means for graspingthe ball, of a bolt for locking the handle upon the ball and meansconnecting the bolt to the hand of the operator for automaticallyreleasing the handle from the ball when discharged.

3. In a bowling ball handle, the combination, with means for graspingthe ball, of a bolt for locking the handle upon the ball, and a cordattached to the bolt and secured upon the hand of the bowler toautomatically draw the bolt when the ball is discharged.

4. In a bowling ball handle, the combination, with inclined jaws to fitinclined holes in the ball, of slides connecting the jaws movably, abolt for locking the slides together, and means connected with the boltfor automatically retracting the bolt when the handle and ball aredischarged.

5. In a bowling ball handle, the combination, with two inclined jaws, ofslides connecting the jaws movably, ball-races upon the slides, ballsguiding the slides movably, a ratchet-bolt and a rack upon the slidesrespectively to look the jaws together, and a cord attached to the boltfor connecting it to the hand of the operator.

6. In a bowling ball handle, the combination, with two inclined jaws, ofslides oonnecting the jaws movably, a tongue upon one of the slides withball-races at opposite sides, and the other slide having a channel withball-races in its edges, balls fitted to the races, a rack upon one ofthe slides, and a spring-bolt upon the other slide to engage the rack,the whole arranged and operated substantially as set forth.

7. In a bowling ball handle, the combination, with two inclined jaws, ofslides connecting the jaws inovably, a tongue upon one of the slideswith ball-races at opposite sides and the other slide having a channelmy hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN W. HYATT. Witnesses:

L. LEE, THOMAS S. CRANE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, I). C.

.with ball-races in its edges, balls fitted to

